Not only did the man manage to cheat death two years ago in a near-fatal car crash, but he’s managed to rebuild contemporary music from the ground up with production skills for people from Alicia Keys to Jay-Z. Oh yeah – in his spare time, he made “The College Dropout,” Universal Music’s biggest-selling album of the year to date.

Aside from West’s mastery of the studio, he’s also impressive live, as he proved earlier this year headlining the Life Beat benefit concert here in New York. On Saturday he and his band, along with co-headliner Usher, play the arena at the Meadowlands.

For a rap star, he’s extremely soft-spoken – though without any modesty when it comes to his abilities and influence.

“I think my work is the reason album sales are up this year,” West told The Post.

Strange thing is, the guy may be right. Not only has “Dropout” sold a couple million in the U.S. since dropping in February, but his production prints can be found all over records by top-selling acts from Brandy, Jadakiss and Dilated Peoples to Maroon5. Currently he’s in the studio twisting knobs for Mariah Carey’s next album.

With your production skills, could you make anyone a rap star?

I probably could. But it’s not so much me behind the success. I think it’s God; I’m just in his service. I look at what I do as administering his blessings. So if I’m in the studio with an artist and we make a hit record – that’s what God wanted them to have.

You always seem to make hit records.

Not always. Sometimes a record doesn’t come out right. What that means is God didn’t want them to have that blessing.

On your own record, you do a song called “Jesus Walks.” Isn’t Jesus a risky subject for a badass rapper?

It would have been riskier for me not to do that song. Some rappers are tough, but Jesus is all-powerful; he has more juice than the record label, than the media and all the gangstas together. He’s the one who’s in control.

Have you always had this sense of religion?

It’s not religion; it’s spirituality. I say it on my album – religion is something you say over and over; it has nothing to do with spirituality. I was raised in the church. My father would take me to church three times a week, but he also explained social issues to me.

Are you your father’s son? Do you want to explain social issues and God to today’s kids?

The things he taught me in those long car rides to church are in my music now, and there’s so much more for me to talk about that I haven’t had a chance to get to yet.

With “College Dropout,” what have you taught kids?

I’ve opened up some doors. I think kids are hearing new possibilities. People get tired of the same thing, and I had new ideas. I will always try to give people something new because I don’t want to hear something I already heard.

How is your new album going to be different?

I don’t want to say, but when you hear it you’re going to say, “Here we go,” not, “Here we go again.”

You recently posed for a magazine article in a coffin. After nearly dying in a car crash, didn’t that bother you?

It didn’t affect me at all. What that photo represented was a new life. I was in the coffin, and I was also the man standing looking at my body in the casket. It would have bothered me more to pose with a car than with that casket.

What are the rules of driving a car?

Don’t drive drunk, and definitely don’t drive when you’re sleepy.

Do you ever think about your mortality?

I plan on living a long life, but nobody knows when their time is, so I want to get out the music God has given me while I have the years.

In your years so far, you’ve worked with some of the greats in pop and hip-hop. Here’s some names: Give me a one word description. Alicia Keys?

Soulful.

DMX?

Passionate.

Lil’ Kim?

West Raunchy.

Janet Jackson?

Sweet.

Jay-Z.

Mogul. I know that’s not an adjective, but that’s what he is.

One of the messages from your album is that organized education might be a waste of time, but knowledge should always be sought after.

That’s exactly how I feel. When I was in school, I was bored out of my mind and I was going crazy. I needed more stimulation.

This multi-stimulation isn’t for every kid – but it worked for you?

I’ll go out on a limb and say I’m special.

Is it true you get $75,000 to $100,000 per track to produce?

The new price per track is no price.

I don’t understand.

I either want to work with you or not. I might like someone as a person and work with them. Look at an artist like Jay-Z. He represents something. When I write a Jay-Z chorus, he’s the only one who could make that chorus work to its full capacity.

Since you’re performing now, do you save the best for yourself?

If it’s a piece of my soul, of my experiences, my heart – I’m not going to give that away for money. Anything I make up that represents me, I’m keeping for myself.